Simo Lampinen

Born: 22 June 1943
Hometown: Porvoo

Simo Lampinen overcame what was considered a huge obstacle to a rally driver; he contracted polio at a young age. He survived the childhood disease, but it left him with a very pronounced limp. Authorities granted him a driving license at age 17 so he could get to and from school more easily, but he quickly went on to acquire a competition license. He won his first major rally, Finland's Rally of the 1000 Lakes, in 1963 when he was only 20. He went on to win the Finnish Rally Championship that year. Lampinen repeated that accomplishment in 1964, and won the Ice Racing Championship in 1965.

Lampinen began by driving SAABs, whose front-wheel drive and two-cycle engines were well suited to the winter conditions in Scandinavia. He became part of the Finnish Saab Team, the cars differentiated from the Swedish Saab Team's red machines by their white and blue paint schemes.

Lampinen was wooed to Lancia in 1970, and won twice that year in the Fulvia HF. He returned to driving for Saab in 1972 and won the 1000 Lakes for the third time.

Simo at the 1996 Saab 900 Talladega Challenge where he was the chief instructor.

In recent years, Lampinen has been active as Clerk of Course for the 1000 Lakes Rally, now known as the Rally of Finland. In 1996, he was one of the instructors for the Saab 900 Talladega Challenge, an event at Talladega Speedway in Alabama in which Saab 900s were used to set several International speed records. He also assisted Saab in their assault on Pikes Peak in 2000, when Per Eklund drove to victory in a specially prepared Saab 9-3 Viggen.

Right: Tom Trana, Timo Makinen and Simo Lampinen - Saab's driver lineup for the 1969 Rally of 1000 Lakes. Lampinen finished 2nd, Makinen was 4th.